VIDEO INTERVIEW | The consensus at this year’s Sibos conference seems to be that the complete implementation of unique transaction identifiers (UTIs) is progressing slower than expected – and even when it happens, trade is not expected to be completely harmonised. Christine Strandberg, head of Investor Services Banks Product Management at SEB weighs in on that with us in this eight-minute video.
With all the talk of standardisation in the industry, one might wonder what lies in the future for sub-custodians. Christine Strandberg believes that these institutions will continue to play a role, pointing out that it’s more a question of whether the traditional custody model will survive, and not one of the existence of sub-custodians.
“When it comes to sub-custody clients, what we are seeing is that they are becoming more fragmented in how they communicate and what they actually want,” she says. Instead of a standardised offer for all clients – as might be expected with harmonisation – sub-custodians are now expected to customise offers for different clients. “It’s actually changing. It’s less harmonisation among the custodian clients.”
No matter how reality might play out, one form of harmonisation the industry is looking forward to is the complete implementation of unique transaction identifiers (UTIs). Referring to Emma Johnson, executive director, global custody industry and regulatory developments at JP Morgan’s Securities Services – whom PostTrade 360° also interviewed at Sibos 2023 – Christine Strandberg comments, “She said, give it another year or two and it will probably be successful; I want it within the next few months.” But when it does happen, “the buy-side community will see the benefits”.
Christine Strandberg was on stage on the third day for a “Hear from your peers” session titled “Reduce settlement fails with Swift Securities View” with Tracy Chou, senior securities expert, Swift, as moderator.
Sibos 2023 played out in Toronto from 18 to 21 September, with about 9,000 registered delegates. We were there, producing mainly video interviews, but also some text pieces. Overview our coverage here.